Atlanta Police Department Redesigns Beats for Patrol Officers

December 13,2011

It's been about 6 years since the Atlanta Police Department has done a redesign like this. APD spokesman, Carlos Campos says that it's being done because some officers would regularly have to spend their entire shift going from one 911 call to another.
"We want every officer to not only respond to 911 calls, but to also proactively police. That means we want them out of their cars from time to time talking to community members."

This will bring the number of beats up to 78 from the current 66. Campos says that this also means changing the size of some of those beat areas to better accommodate the needs within a certain zone.
"Some beats, for example in downtown Atlanta, are very small, but the officers are very busy because you have a daytime downtown population."

The beat changes will go into effect at 3 a.m. You can find a map of the redesign online at atlantapd.org